Thank the many gods for Sammy King, my prayers to Satan have been answered; I asked her to send us a fresh court jester - a fool, someone to argue the cause of unethical martial artists everywhere. They will be proud that you have chosen to be their spokesperson to wage your crusade against the bastions of ethical practice that is Bullshido.net. As your kindred spirit Ashida Kim once said "Let the buyer beware" -as excellent an excuse for selling crap without a conscience as I ever heard. So yes, why should anyone care if they are exploiting their 4 year old students Ėlet the buyer beware; itís the kids fault for attending classes. Sleep well.

Stop right there. The way you are describing "McDojo" makes it seem like its a label that's based on opinion. It's not. A McDojo isn't a McDojo simply because a group of people think so

Originally Posted by SammyKing

A group of people think so..........isn't that what its call an OPINION????

Dude. You completely misread that. He is saying there are specific qualifications to say it's a mcdojo. Curriculum, costs, training methods, etc. *edit* hence the word "ISN'T" in his statement. *end edit*

Originally Posted by SammyKing

Sorry, maybe your doubt yourself 24/7. But most confident fighters and teachers don't. Doesn't mean it'll stop me from growing. Doubting yourself will do that. I can't even believe someone would tell other MAs to doubt their own art.

Reading that statement doesn't make sense, you are trying to find little details of my post to pick on, coming up with counter arguements. See? Why would anyone value such opinions?? You are arguing for the fact of arguing. Why would anyone need any opinion from a board like this??

Like seriously Sammy - talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

This guy 'dalum' at least has the balls to own up to the possibility his reality..
oh wait, I'm going to need to explain reality first.

See there's... truth.. which is actuality. Then there's perception on truth, which is reality. Each person's reality is different, and yet true, but only in degrees.

There.

Now, on with the meat of it. This guy is trying to check into the possibility perhaps his REALITY has been more false than true. In that respect, he's trying to establish a more TRUE reality by realigning his perspective more in line with actuality. I hope you understand that. There's nothing dishonorable or shameful about that. It's a method of improvement known as "not lying to yourself".

Example. I could say I'm the greatest 10th dan master of omg-wtf-bbq-shido the world has ever seen. That I've never been defeated in a fight. And if I was, I'd totally rock their socks, etc. . Yet, if I'd have never been in a fight all I'm doing is using a completely unfounded sense of self-perception based on a complete lack of ACTUAL experience in combat.

You shouldn't pick on the man for wanting to shed the veil of self-delusion, something which I must say the more of your posts that I read that I see you're well and truly wrapped up in.

Holy **** You Guys!!!

Definite good things to be read here. Some things are hard to swallow, but you guys are being honest and that I appreciate the most. The group that is in Michigan (as well as myself) seem to be pretty compitent as instructors. Again, I'm speaking for the Michigan group. There are a bunch of others that are in this state that seem to be not quite as stellar. I found that during our all-state tournament they kind of glommed together as some sort of wierd clique. They all made bad calls and just made everything run overall bad. They are definitely in the bullshido/McDojo that you all describe. I, for one, am practicing what I preach. My cirriculum is slowed as they advance more into Modern Arnis. I also differentiate the students that can prove that they have the focus and maturity to incorperate fully into MA WITH eskrima. (Note that I left out age or belt.)
I'm not really interested in what other people think, I'm more worried about the inherent problems that come along with being merely associated with said fries & shake facilites. That and for what the kids learn, even under my cirriculum, are essentially learning the "basics" of the style even when they get high enough in the YC ranks. I definitely have already seen the interesting "decisions" that are passed down from upper management, but around here they let the individual instructors run as independently as they want as long as it adheres to our contract to YC. Essentially, I use them as a primer to get into my school as soon as I get all my stuff opened up and ready with my partner. (Non-greedy, all non-profit, all for thel ove of the arts.)

So let me recap...
Yes, I'm a part of a McDojo environment.
From what everyone says, as long as I am true to myself and what I teach I am not shoveling any bullshido.

Again, thanx for being (brutally) honest with me. I do appreciate it.
So am I some wierd anomoly or a black sheep or some wierd "half-breed"? LOL!

Seriously though... I am minly concerned about the longterm well being of my students (vs other styles, not fighting) and the inherent problems of being with this group. More thoughts?

It really depends on whether your organization will see what you are doing, find that they don't like it, and if they will take action. If you think there is any chance they might, then your long term goals might be in jeopardy because it sounds like an organization like this might have some medium of legal power.

Is there anything in your contract with the organization that outlines any sort of exit clause where you can leave it? Perhaps it might be best to talk to some of the law affiliated members of Bullshido if you are thinking about possible blowback from the organization.

Otherwise, just teach your heart out and see what happens. If the kids end up loving it and you have a strong following, then there's not much those corporate asshats can do unless they want a line of screaming parents at their door. Who knows maybe they will extend your type of teaching dogma into other schools as well (wishful thinking but maybe).

So am I some wierd anomoly or a black sheep or some wierd "half-breed"? LOL!

Nah, my former TKD instructor (who i feel wasn't bullshido) was stuck teaching in a McDojo WTF school. But he taught non WTF stuff, like sparring without gear, takedowns, and was against the school's grading policies and contract pricing. Politics eventually got him sort of kicked out, so that would be a case where things didn't go so smoothly...

Thanks SaturnJunkie for that bit about SammyKing's yodeling about 'opinion', guess he doesn't read too carefully when he's getting schooled...

K, so I was reading another thread about McDaycare... This definitely seems to be par for the course that the main people above seem to want to push. All I can say is that the more that the "notariety" that I gain with the parents it will weed the students/parents out that think that belting is a requirement when they pay for it. I will stay true to me and my art when it comes to actual learning. If they don't like it they can give me the boot down the road.

Going back to the all-state tournament... There was another instructor there that was at the end of his rope and said he was going to quit after this season and go back to focusing on his studio. He dedicated 8 years to trying to making a dent on quality instruction in his style for them instead of being a BB factory that some of the others are. I find it to be quite unfortunate that we are going to lose a real quality instructor. I don't want to end up wasting my time as he did. I think his downfall is that he was carying the weight of the world on his shoulders on this subject. I will just keep to myself and change the world within my classes. My plan is to gain students from keeping my own standards, not theirs.

Dalum, are you honest about what these kids are learning .... and we'll just step away from the idea that kids that young are going to get anything from Arnis, it's an adults art to me ... do you teach them they're doing something for fun only? Or do you guys tell them they are bad-ass warrior ninjas able to fight off kidnappers with the touch of a finger?

From what you're said, I think it's a McDojo ... but you're trying to make it better. Be honest about what the kids are there for, work your best to improve it and just do your job. Maybe find a real school to direct the better students to when they outgrow your program.

Funny you should say that...
One of thr first questions to the kids is "Who is here to be a Power Ranger?" I tell them that won't be learning how to fly though the air or be billy bad-ass. (in not so many words and defintely in a better wording more appropriate for such impressionable ears.) I then tell them that they will learn how to stay away from strangers and learn an "introductary" form of Arnis. Yes, Arnis can be seen as an adult form. More for a mature setting at the very least. I even go as far as judging their maturity as they belt up before I even let them get into picking up any Eskrima. As far as open hand to weapon translation much of it is interchangable with little effort. I have a bit more control over what kids will be going home with a goose egg (or worse) when it's done this way. I keep it as fun as possible while they learn the ideas of proper body positioning and footwork while not being nailed to the floor.

BTW, Modern Arnis is part of the cirriculum back home. There are many photos of youngsters with and without Eskrima taken from the PIs. None of them are learning to to stick chokeouts, joint destruction or any of the other stuff that is a little too "intense" for younger folks. It's the same deal with my class. :)

Well guys, guys what? I finally got my head out of my ass. I made friends with a studio owner here in town. He's letting me teach out of his studio as a "sublease" to his classes. I quit YC this summer after being told that I'm going to made into a Wushu teacher the second time/season now. I thought it would be OK if the instructors just learned a form to get the parents and students interested in another art being offered by the company. But then we all started thinking aobut it... We all took our styles that we wanted to learn and end up teaching becasue of our love for it, NOT the (lack of) pay associated behind it.

As the first time around went through and we all did a form demo as all the instructors it was at least fun. A couple of meetings after and then being told that we should have been teaching this form to our students we all started to get the gist that we are being assimilated into the Wushu-Borg and that we better start drinking the KoolAid.

Now I can understand the business model that they have and that Wushu is going to be an Olympic sport unveiled in Beijing. This, coupled with the fact that YC is poised to be the Wushu bastian for getting Children into the sport once the Olympics happens, doesn't mean that I (or other instructors in the group) have to agree with it.

I'm just glad that I had an outlet to teach for the past few years and get kids a taste of a different style than the "run of the mill" styles they can get locally. I'm done with the McDojo and their weird setup. I'm finally going to do it my way.